Tag Archives: Prologues

So I promised a while back that I would post the prologue of book one once I had it edited. So here it is:

Prologue

Memories in the Archive

2011

Elizabeth Alten sat down at the computer bank she had in the basement of Babylon Mansion. She was one of the few who could access the room. A cursor blinked on and off in front of her for a few seconds before she typed in a name. Michael Lansing Babylon. She sat back in her chair for a few seconds and then erased what she had typed. It wouldn’t do to dwell on the past. There was nothing she could do to change that.

“Can I help?” A voice asked. Elizabeth smiled and looked over at the screen next to the one she was in front of. Just a few seconds to smile at Angelus and then it was back to thinking. Angelus would understand, of everyone around her Angelus was the one who understood her the most. The A.I. was quirky but she knew Elizabeth’s moods. Angelus flipped her vivid blue hair and stared at Elizabeth with her purple eyes. Angelus was a face that Elizabeth had seen the most in the past few years.

“No, Angelus. I just am thinking.” Thinking was going to lead her down a road that would lead to hurt but if not now, when? When would she allow herself to feel the feelings she had kept lock away for years.

“I can bring up the current footage of Lord Babylon.” Angelus’s voice was wistful.

“No. I’ll be fine. It actually wasn’t him I was thinking of but his father.” The elder Lord Michael had been gone for so long. Still, he was essential to Elizabeth’s past, present, and future. There were so many that were dead that had shaped her life.

“Would you like me to bring up an image of him?” Angelus trailed off and Elizabeth laughed. Angelus was so caring. She cared for Elizabeth more than she had every right to. Given how she came to be. Given what Elizabeth being alive truly meant. Shaking her head, Elizabeth cleared her thoughts.

“Actually, why don’t you start at the beginning of the verbal and visual logs that have been compiled. Start from there and do a progression to today. Interlude when I say. Compile all necessary memories from mother and I.”

“What about the memories and logs from your father and from Mistress Anya?”

“Yea, sure. When they are relevant.” Elizabeth hadn’t known that Anya even had any memories in the computers. Angelus must have found them when she finally hacked into her sister’s computer logs.

“What of the Lords who have made logs in the system?”

“How?” Elizabeth sat upright at that. It was odd to have those who were not direct blood to have memories in the archive. It was an archive that had been created just for her to understand her entire life. Elizabeth had never viewed them before. It was something that she hadn’t wanted to look at until close to the end. What she saw couldn’t change much except for a knowledge that she hated her family even more. Having most of the knowledge would have only made her react in anger. She hadn’t wanted that then but this…this was the end. It could do no damage to her now.

“I don’t know. They are there. Some were added over the years like from David Cooper and others like from Lord Michael are newer. There are a few that have no name or time stamp but I can’t access. Not in a singular fashion. I think that when you review they will slot themselves where they need to be seen.”

“I would say. What method of delivery do you want? Neural net or just visual reflection?”

“Neural net. I’ll go under.” Elizabeth scooted back in the chair and leaned down under the desk and pulled out a headset. She pulled herself back up and against the desk and plugged the headset in. “Lock the doors. I don’t want anyone in. Lock down the Void device. I don’t want Mike or the kids to pop in. Anyone asks where I am, tell them I am training and locked this room down to run some simulations. Don’t let them know I am actually in here.”

“Then ignore him. He’ll think you are in a snit again.” The laughter from the computer speakers was clear as a bell.

Elizabeth finally turned from her screen and looked at the screen that Angelus was currently standing on. She was in a dress and Elizabeth was sure that if she looked close enough, it would be a Renaissance dress. Angelus was in another old time phase. At least this time her speech didn’t match.

“What date is the first entry?”

“1962.”

“What’s the subject matter?”

“Your mother first meeting your father.”

“There is nothing before then?”

“You mother left a small note that this is the moment that changed everything. This is the moment that her doom and all her children’s doom was sealed.”

“Set up the system to do an interlude after significant memories.”

“What do you wish me to name the first interlude?”

“Memories in the Archive.”

“Feeling sad today are we?” Angelus appeared on the screen in front of Elizabeth. A concerned looked on her face. Elizabeth knew that Angelus knew what was coming. Angelus was loyal to her though, there was no one else she held allegiance to and all of the knew it. Angelus was the one person who never betrayed her and never second guessed her. The only true friend she counted herself with. There were friends that she had but they had other allegiances. Angelus was only true to her.

“We are days from war, Angelus. Not years, not months, not weeks, just days. Soon it will be hours. You are lucky that I am not maudlin.”

“Do you they know?” Angelus asked turning her avatar to look at the security footage showing Michael and the kids training.

“No. If he knows, he would try and stop it. If they knew, they would tell him.”

“Who knows?”

“Christian and David. They trust what I am doing but I think that David knows what is truly coming for me.”

“Should I start the recording device?”

“Yes.” Elizabeth closed her eyes and cleared her mind. The first image appeared in her mind and she let herself go…

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